by Philip Smith
“Well He sure didn’t see fit to keep the Shahir at bay.”
“No, perhaps not. But then again,” the magician said. “It’s awful good luck for you to have run into the Brotherhood if He does in fact just sit back and watch.”
“Still.” Paige saw his point but continued to feel hurt, angry, and bitter. “Sure would save us a lot of trouble if He’d keep the bad from happening. It isn’t fair that bad things happen to good people.” She felt all the loss of her mother and father. Of the life she once enjoyed so carelessly. She thought of Olivian, closer now but still in danger. Her throat grew a lump and burned around it. Some Creator to turn her life upside down over the choices of an evil empire.
“Princess,” the wizard said, his eyes warm with understanding. He took her by the shoulders reassuringly. “I have lived in this world a long time, and I have come to realize one thing to be true. The Creator allows suffering for a reason, even to good people.”
“What possibly could be a good reason to let so much pain and hurt affect those He’s supposed to love?” Paige felt the hot tears in her eyes. The magician smiled softly, his wise eyes filled with compassion. He pulled her into a strong, warm hug. She wasn’t expecting the gesture, but returned the embrace, grateful.
“Because if we never suffered in this world, then we would never want to leave.”
Paige nodded. The pain of loss stung her heart, but she couldn’t deny the wisdom of his words. It’s exactly the kind of thing Papa would have said. She looked up at Woodcarver and tried to smile past the lump in her throat.
“We should get some sleep,” the magician said, turning towards the cave. “It will be a long day of resting and preparing for the coming storm.”
They entered the cave to find the others making up their bedrolls for the night. Since Robert had told them his story and the intelligence they had collected regarding troop numbers and housing arrangements, Woodcarver and Duelmaster were filling them in on the infrastructure they’d seen.
“The aqueduct drops past the second wall and into a cistern. They use a floodgate apparatus to control the flow into the city,” Duelmaster was saying. “From that cistern, it flows under the wall and to the main city providing water for everyone that isn’t housed in the barracks, which rest inside the secondary wall outside the actual wall surrounding the keep.”
“And you think we could get under the wall through that waterway?” Dinendale asked.
“Not unless we had someone already inside the barracks,” Woodcarver said, laying down on his bedroll. “There’s a manual floodgate down there as well. Best as I can tell it’s usually unguarded but once it’s shut there's no opening it from that side.”
“And the possibility of getting someone inside the barracks early before the gates close?”
“They’d probably be caught,” Duelmaster yawned, stretching out on his own bedroll. “They drill all about the grounds all day long, so hiding for the amount of time it would take to ensure being behind the gate when it closes would prove difficult. I’m not sure it would work out.”
“But under that floodgate would be the perfect way into that second level, no doubt,” Jesnake surmised, fingers laced as he stared up at the cave ceiling in concentration.
“We’ll sleep on it and formulate a plan tomorrow,” Robert grunted. “Can’t do any proper thinking this late with the mind so jumbled.”
Paige yawned and agreed, resting her head on her pack and closing her eyes to the world to escape it for a few hours.
She’d no idea how long she’d been asleep when a stirring noise in the cave awoke her. She rolled over and looked into the darkness to see the source of the commotion, squinting into the black air around her. It was Dinendale; he’d staggered up and was heading out the mouth of the cave. She silently rolled to her feet and followed him into the chilly night air, her wool cloak and blanket pulled snugly about her neck.
The elf stood out a ways on a rocky outcropping facing the city. He stared at the fortress, as if glaring would make it crumble at his feet. Her stealth evaporated as her foot crunched on tiny stones. Dinendale flinched at the noise and looked around till they locked eyes.
“Why are you still up?” he asked in a quiet tone.
She deftly joined him on the rocky outcropping. “Why are you?” she retorted.
“Can’t sleep.”
“Why not?”
“Well, I’m normally a back sleeper,” he chuckled.
Paige didn’t find it amusing.
The elf cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Because I’ve been an idiot. I’ve let you all down, and I’ve failed at every turn.”
“Dramatic much, Mr. Troubador?” she rolled her eyes. “You know that’s not true.”
“It is!” he spat. “The whole time. I was selfish and almost didn't come at all. Then I chose the wrong path to come, and we were nearly imprisoned for who knows how long. I refused to trust the word of my closest friend when he told me the river was a bad place to cross. It was my idea to go into the city the way we did, nearly killing three of you. And now apparently my choice to relinquish my magic is also a character flaw.”
“Well, even that’s not such an exhaustive list,” she countered.
“Oh no. The list goes on,” the elf laughed bitterly. “I let a friend die because I was too lazy to push myself to work through a little discomfort. And I escaped slavery all by myself, but that’s it. I didn’t even try to take anyone with me. And now this entire trip has been one nightmare after another that I’ve been the cause for! Did I leave anything else out?”
“How about the fact that everything has still worked out despite all that?” she offered.
He sighed. “It was still my fault,” he muttered.
“Oh, come on Dinendale, get over yourself,” she snapped. “Robert never should have said the things he did. You're a good leader, even if you can’t see it.”
The elf looked at the ground for a long moment, refusing to meet her gaze.
“They’re right, you know.”
“About what?”
“About being stubborn.”
“You mean your hero complex?”
The elf snorted.
“Call it what you want, that is what it is, Din. So let's get down to it. Why are you like that? Why do you want to throw yourself into danger?” she asked.
He turned his head back to the city.
“Is it because of Elethia?” she asked.
His shoulders tensed.
“She meant a lot to you, didn’t she?” she spoke more softly this time, sitting on a boulder and propping her knees under her chin.
“She was my best friend.”
“How did you meet?”
A faint flicker of a melancholy smile twitched at the elf’s lips.
“We grew up together in the Faun Forest. When we heard about the Empire growing in the east, we decided to leave our home and help those who couldn’t help themselves.”
“One day, after we had formed the Brotherhood, she took my place hunting after I’d sprained my ankle. It was a stupid stunt-gone-wrong and I piddled around till she announced she’d swap with me and left. I should have been with her. But instead I leaned back in a hammock and let her go alone. What kind of a friend does that? I mean, gierah!” Dinendale swore, clenching his fists so tight his palms blanched. “When she didn’t come back, we searched for hours. But they’d taken her.”
“And you went after her?”
“I thought I could break her out on my own,” Dinendale rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I thought we had spent too long planning and debating about a strategy, so I left and didn’t tell the lads I was leaving. They caught me stealing into the barracks and dragged me to Prince Feridar. They had already tortured Elethia, and the prince was going to make an example of any elf he could get his hands on.”
“Did he give you this?” Paige asked, gently reaching out and brushing the elf’s hair away from his face. Her fingertips touching Dinendale’s scar
and he nodded.
“He did. And then he… he hung her body from the walls.”
“Why on earth would he just kill her like that!?”
“Same reason most men would. They hate elves about as much as elves hate men.”
“I didn’t realize….”
“That’s because you grew up in the Wild. Out here a Raven-head would sooner kill an elf as look at him. Or her.”
A single tear slid down Dinendale’s cheek, twinkling silver in the moonlight. He took a deep shuddering breath.
“Ever since then, I’ve been throwing myself at anything I can, as if it would ease my pain to defeat the obstacles. Or maybe I simply had a wish to die. Either way it has put everyone I care about in danger. It’s my curse. More a curse than not having any magic left.”
There was a long pause as Paige tried to think of something to say, but she had no words. The silence sat between them as the chilled wind swept locks of hair around Paige’s face. As he looked toward the ground, Paige decided perhaps the best thing she could do for this hurting creature was just to listen.
“Tell me more about her?”
Dinendale turned, looking surprised.
“What?”
“Elethia. Tell me about her. She obviously meant a lot to you.”
Dinendale looked up at Taivian and Suntra, taking a deep, long breath in through his nose.
“She was as wild as the sunset. Never content staying in one place, always wanted to see what was beyond the horizon.”
“Sounds like you,” Paige said, shifting so her legs could hang off the boulder.
“Aye. Two apples off the same branch. She always dreamt of following the Great River to the Sea. I’ve had that dream since I was a lad. We’d made a pact to do it as soon as the Empire had ceased its tyranny and our idealism had been satiated. But that never happened.”
“Well, maybe someday you’ll get to do that in her honor.”
“Maybe so,” he said softly. He straightened up a little and cleared his throat. “And what about Olivian? Is she like you?”
Paige laughed. “Not really,” she answered. “Olivian has the curiosity of a turnip when it comes to adventures. I was the wild one at home. Always wanting to go with Papa on his escapades.”
“I could definitely see that,” Dinendale chuckled.
Paige shrugged. “Funny. Growing up I always wondered what lay beyond the Wild. Thought I might like to see what was out there someday. Just never thought it would be like this. Now all I want is to be back in Kapernaum.”
“Home is a funny thing like that.”
“Will you go back to your home ever do you think?”
Dinendale shrugged. “My father and I didn’t part on the best of terms,” he explained. “And to go back without Elethia there, I doubt I could handle it.”
“I’d give anything to see my home one more time,” Paige said, knocking her heel against the boulder in no particular rhythm. “My father too.”
There was a long pause as the pair looked out into the dark horizon.
“Well, one day you will have to show me,” she slid off the rock to face him. “I’ve never seen a city of elves.”
“It would be my honor to show you one.”
He looked at her, but the brown eyes she gazed into were not the same ones she’d seen that first night at the willow tree. They had lost the anger and haunted expression. Now, even though they were still haunted by sadness, they held a light she’d never seen before: hope. She couldn’t think of what to say next. And she realized in that instant she didn’t have to say anything.
“If we, by some miracle get through this plan alive, I will take you,” he laughed.
She smiled. “I would like that very much.”
Then, without warning, the elf reached out and wrapped his strong arms around her and held her close. She was taken aback for a moment, her heart thundering in her ears, but quickly returned the hug. The elf sucked in a breath sharply, and she instantly remembered his tender back. She felt her cheeks flush even more as she tried to release him.
“Oh, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” she stammered, but he didn’t let her go. Instead he looked down at her and smiled.
“I’m sure I can muscle my way through a simple hug, princess. I’d better be able to or I’m in deep trouble come tomorrow.”
As gently as she could possibly be, Paige returned the hug. They stood together for a long moment, Dinendale’s warm body felt so safe and protective. She smiled in his embrace. As much as she hated the circumstances, she was glad to have found friends like Dinendale and the others.
“If it makes you feel better, I don’t think I could feel any safer than I do with you and the others.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. The Shahir can keep his army. I’d rather have the Brotherhood.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that. An army could come in handy right about now.”
They both laughed and Dinendale lightly scratched Paige’s back. She felt like a jar of moths had been emptied into her gut, and the tapered tips of her ears tingled as they turned a shade of pink.
“Well, I’d better get back to bed,” she said, breaking from their embrace. “Goodnight Din.”
She turned to enter the cave again but he caught her arm.
“Princess?”
She turned and looked back at him, her heart still fluttering.
“Yes?”
“We will get your sister out. If I make and keep one promise to you, let it be that.”
“I know we will. I have complete faith in you,” she replied with a smile.
◆◆◆
“Ah, it feels so good to be back in these!” Broadside bellowed, now in his mail and armor. Paige agreed, tying her moccasins tight. The men had woken up the next morning with an air of confidence they hadn’t had in awhile, undaunted by the painful reality that the soldiers were on high alert. They changed their clothes and burned the costumes they’d worn the day before. With festive cheer they watched the flames lick at the colorful fabrics.
“Yes, it does,” Robert agreed, running his finger across the edge of his spear head, testing its sharpness. “Now we just need to whip his Royal Heartlessness into the grave he’s dug himself.”
“Looks like a storm’s threatening. Might cause an issue,” Twostaves commented, looking out of the cave’s mouth at the low rolling black clouds overhead.
“If that’s our biggest problem today, I can live with it,” Paige said, taking some wine and scrubbing her hair to remove the last of the black coloring. Her now wet, tassled blond hair lay across her shoulders like stringy pasta.
“I don’t know. I kind of liked you as a Raven-head,” Robert chuckled.
She reached over and socked him in the arm but flashed him a smile as she did so.
“Nah, Shauden doesn't suit your sunny disposition m’lady,” Duelmaster laughed as he checked the edge on his rapiers for what must have been the one hundredth time. Jesnake chuckled, checking the fletching on all the arrows the group had left.
“Well, assuming the rain isn’t our biggest problem tonight,” Twostaves stomped his way back into the cave, “can you use that nifty magic to help protect us from injury, Woodcarver?”
“You see things shallowly, master giant,” the magician replied. “I can heal and cast spells, it’s true. But I can’t keep people from dying or stop them from making foolish moves in a battle. Magic is just a tool, like a bow or a sword. It can’t be used to interfere with what is to be. The only one who can do that is the Creator.”
“So why can you use spells on people at all then?” Robert countered.
“I can help to heal a wound or use it to fight an opponent, but I cannot change someone's fate. In theory, one could heal a mortal wound or cast a shield against someone, but magic comes at a price. Every spell I cast and incantation I mutter takes energy from my body to complete. If someone were to breach the limitations of his body, he could end up dead.”
“He’s
right,” Jesnake commented, checking the shaft of an arrow. “So since we can’t use it to make you impenetrable, try your best not to get shot.”
Even with the anticipation building and pumping through their veins, it was not hard for any of them to fall asleep that afternoon. Paige dozed in and out of consciousness for several hours till eventually Robert shook her awake. She jumped with a start and clocked him hard in the nose. He swore, and jumped back, rubbing his throbbing schnoz.
“Well good morning to you too, Sunshine,” he grimaced.
